Dracula Untold Blu-ray ReviewMar 03 2015 01:15 AMDracula Untold games its thrones on Blu-ray with an edition that presents this leaden reboot of the Dracula franchise in solid high definition, with an army... Read More

Wow, always some surprises. This year the Director category is the big shocker, matching the DGA slate only with Spielberg & Lee. Out: Hooper, Bigelow, and perhaps most surprisingly, Affleck. In: Haneke, Russell, and in a HUGE surprise, Zeitlin. I don't think ANYONE predicted that one.
Best Actress category has the oldest (Riva) and the youngest (Wallis) nominees in that category's history. But the race is between Lawrence & Chastain.
Silver Linings Playbook runs the table in Acting nods. I think they are all deserved, but especially glad for Jacki Weaver, who hadn't been talked up as much as her three co-stars.
Glad to see Roger Deakins get the nod for Skyfall. Maybe the 10th time will be the charm!!
Lincoln hauls in 12 noms and is clearly the BP front-runner. Les Miserables and Silver Linings Playbook take 8 nods each.

Three truths about movies, as noted by Roger Ebert:

* It's not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it.* No good movie is too long, and no bad movie is short enough.* No good movie is depressing, all bad movies are depressing.

Originally Posted by TravisR
The Master didn't get a Best Picture nomination? Weird.

Would have been weird if it had been nominated, IMHO. It was in and out of theaters in two weeks, and never really caught fire in the race as a serious BP contender. There Will Be Blood sustained its buzz for months after its release, that disn't happen with The Master.
Should have been nominated for Cinematography, however.

Three truths about movies, as noted by Roger Ebert:

* It's not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it.* No good movie is too long, and no bad movie is short enough.* No good movie is depressing, all bad movies are depressing.

Would have been weird if it had been nominated, IMHO. It was in and out of theaters in two weeks, and never really caught fire in the race as a serious BP contender. There Will Be Blood sustained its buzz for months after its release, that disn't happen with The Master.

I think you're mostly right except there was some serious critical buzz. It got more #1 spots on critics Top 10 lists than any other film and was the second-best reviewed film overall. http://www.metacriti...-movies-of-2012

I think you're mostly right except there was some serious critical buzz. It got more #1 spots on critics Top 10 lists than any other film and was the second-best reviewed film overall. http://www.metacriti...-movies-of-2012

Beyond that, it's up for Best Actor, Supporting Actress and Supporting Actor. Not that I'm an authority on the Oscars but I would think it's safe to say that a movie with multiple nominations in the 'big' categories can generally count on a Best Picture nomination as well.

Originally Posted by TravisR
I hadn't gotten around to seeing that yet so now when I go this weekend, it'll be friggin' packed.

It was packed when I saw it on Sunday. Very good film, much better than I had expected. Plays great with a full house. The 4 nominees are all fantastic.
It's ZDT for me this weekend to round out my in-theater BP viewing.

Three truths about movies, as noted by Roger Ebert:

* It's not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it.* No good movie is too long, and no bad movie is short enough.* No good movie is depressing, all bad movies are depressing.

Originally Posted by TravisR
Beyond that, it's up for Best Actor, Supporting Actress and Supporting Actor. Not that I'm an authority on the Oscars but I would think it's safe to say that a movie with multiple nominations in the 'big' categories can generally count on a Best Picture nomination as well.

Yeah, usually. All I can say is in following the race over the past two months, neither The Master nor Anderson were high on prospective nominee lists (but the 3 actors were). In the end, I think the film as a whole just left a lot of people cold.

Three truths about movies, as noted by Roger Ebert:

* It's not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it.* No good movie is too long, and no bad movie is short enough.* No good movie is depressing, all bad movies are depressing.

I saw it last weekend and thought it was really good. Even though you know how it ends, it's surprisingly suspenseful. I don't really have a "This movie must win Best Picture!" pick this year but I wouldn't mind Zero Dark Thirty winning.

[*] Daniel Day-Lewis was expected for "Lincoln" (and deserves to win it all, in my opinion), but Bradley Cooper in "Silver Linings Playbook" is very deserving as well. One of my favorite performances in a long time.
[*] Very happy Alan Arkin got a Supporting Actor nomination for his scene-stealing role in "Argo", and Tommy Lee Jones was tremendous in "Lincoln".
[*] Likewise, I'm very happy that Jennifer Lawrence got nominated for "Silver Linings Playbook", but I'm thrilled that Quvenzhané Wallis overcame the bias against nominating children for Best Actress in "Beasts of the Southern Wild". It probably would have been safer to promote her in the Supporting Actress category, as Paramount did for Hailee Steinfeld in the Coen Brothers True Grit remake, but would have been even more disingenuous. I'm glad Fox Searchlight took the risk, and I'm so glad that it paid off for them.
[*] I'm equally thrilled that Jacki Weaver got a Best Supporting Actress nod in "Silver Linings Playbook". It would have been easy for her performance to get lost in the shuffle with Cooper, Lawrence and DeNiro's much showier roles, but she was the glue that held the film together.
[*] Very psyched that Roger Deakins got a cinematography nod for Skyfall. I figured that the Academy might hold the fact that it's a Bond movie against him. Glad to see that genre snobbery didn't get in the way of a very deserving nomination.
[*] Likewise, I'm really happy that Thomas Newman got nominated for Best Score for Skyfall. The rules for what constitutes an original score are perplexing bordering on arbitrary, so I thought his score might get not qualify for consideration.
[*] There are no outright groaners for Best Picture this year. Some films on the list are definitely more deserving than others, but there's no "What were they thinking?" selections on the list.
[*] Very happy that The Avengers made the short list for Visual Effects. There was some truly groundbreaking stuff in that film, spectacle in the truest sense of the word.
[*] It's a shame that both Tony Kushner's Lincoln screenplay and David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook screenplay were both adapted from other works, because they were for my money far and away the best screenplays of the years, and I'd have loved to see both of them win. As it is, I'm happy "Moonrise Kingdom" got an Original Screenplay nod.
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This race is now Lincoln's to lose, unless Life of Pi gains momentum. Without Hooper, Affleck, and Bigelow nominated for Director, their respective films have an almost zero chance of winning. The last time a film won best picture without a Director nomination was back in 1989 (Driving Miss Daisy). If both Spielberg and Day-Lewis win, it will be their third Oscars. Pretty amazing. Just need to see Zero Dark Thirty (tomorrow or Saturday) and Amour (not playing in this area yet) to finish off my 2012 Oscar viewings.

Robert: I'd love to hear your opinion. I think that's a disc I want to pick up...but I've heard so little about it, except for the young girl's performance.

Can't speak for Robert, but it is an interesting film. I saw it on DVD at a friend's house on Christmas day and I think it will take a few more viewings to form an opinion on what the film is attempting to communicate. Taken on a metaphorical level (as an SF film), I think an interpretation of humanity's response to environmental collapse (particularly global warming) could be elicited. Like most art, it is very open to interpretation. (Haven't broken out my Bd copy of the film as of yet.) - Walter.

Fidelity to the source should always be the goal for Blu-ray releases.